ace1974

I'll agree with that. Great post, all around. With regards to VW, a great deal of what's happening there certainly does involve how different (re: bat feces insane) the American market is with regards to the rest of the world. Even during lean times, we tend to like bigger cars and SUVs, and that makes it difficult for a global automaker to find a strategic solution to this market difference. Difficult, but not impossible. Ford, for example, is basically making the same car in many different forms, all to keep costs down and to deliver the vehicles to the markets that want them. The Escape is basically the Focus jacked up a half-a-foot off the ground, and the Escape is the B-Max Hybrid identically, but with a gas engine and at a normal height. VW just didn't find these solutions to their product mix in the US, and what's worse, made some insane bets we all knew weren't going to pay off (the new Passat? Seriously.) At the same time, due to globalization of the manufacture of automobiles, it's really only a matter of time before we're all driving Euro-Asian small(er) cars in the form of the Golf or the Focus, and while you can never underestimate the stupidity of the American Public, eventually they catch up and they'll realize they're paying a 25% premium over the car variant. Or that SUVs aren't "cooler" than wagons: THEY ARE WAGONS! (Sorry! Off topic!)

While that's undoubtably true, I doubt the phasing out of orca breeding has to do with Blackfish, and more to do with a business model that's no longer working for SeaWorld. Blackfish was very much like Michael Moore's documentaries in that it preached to the choir. Meaning that if you were inclined to see Blackfish, then you were already inclined to view the subject of cetacean captivity as wrong, and you were ALREADY not inclined to go to SeaWorld, anyway. I'm trying to keep my personal politics and beliefs out of this post, but I'll own up to belonging to that group, in that I already wouldn't go to SeaWorld because it just seemed...off...to me. But, I was already in that group that wasn't attending SeaWorld, anyways. To equate this to a real-life issue, one can take Texas and their education system (where the textbooks have been rewritten in, ahem, interesting ways,) their assault on abortion rights, and their anti-gay stance (see: Houston.) I personally would have difficulty living there and feeding into that states' taxation pool, but plenty of people just don't care as much about the politics of the place as much as they do about the inexpensive costs associated with Texas. So, I'm already in the group that "isn't attending Texas," for example, but my youngest sister and my parents are certainly in the "don't especially care enough" about these things camp. From a purely business standpoint, the primary issue with SeaWorld involves increased, resurgent and highly capitalized competition that either wasn't in the market before or wasn't presented to the market in an effective way, the former being Legoland along with other Merlin Entertainment attractions, the latter being the poorly launched Islands of Adventure, greatly course-corrected in the past few years via Potter and the rest of the gang. I truly don't think Blackfish has nearly as much to do with this as either the promoters or the detractors say, because if the orca shows were still acting as a flagship attraction and driving strong attendance, there would be more of a fight to keep them, regardless of how some people feel about them. The issue with SeaWorld is structural; in a marketplace looking for themed, immersive, ideally franchise-oriented amusement park experiences, SeaWorld is lacking. They know this themselves, partnering with DreamWorks for the Madagascar characters, for example. I'd also go so far as to say that the issue with SeaWorld is that they are, in effect, offering the same 'premium regional theme park' experience to both the regional theme park market, where a trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg is infinitely more complete (and clean,) than going to SixFlags, and to the Orlando/Southern California markets, where especially in Orlando, customers are looking for a grander experience. For a long time, orcas doing tricks was that grand experience. But I think the times have changed. To equate this to another industry, look at Volkswagen in the United States. The big news about the company is the diesel software, designed to trick emissions testing. That has certain people up in arms and vocalizing loudly against the company for their deception, much like PETA and the Blackfish folk expressed their distaste against SeaWorld loudly. But...much like SeaWorld, the issue with VW isn't really the bad press and likely economically punitive measures because of the diesel software controversy; it's structural. VW, in today's market, isn't selling what the market is looking to buy. It's not that VWs aren't good cars (the Golf is pretty much the ideal way to move around five people in comfort, economy, and driving dynamics ability...ever,) it's just that Americans really don't like hatchbacks en masse, and they really want an SUV in their garage. It's not that Americans don't view Volkswagen as a brand that offers them more than the competition, it's that they don't think that VWs offer ENOUGH more than the competition to warrant the Acura/Audi/Buick prices. At the end of the day, Blackfish is a scapegoat for fans of SeaWorld and detractors of the people who believe in the message of the movie. It's dangerous, in that it detracts from the structural issues affecting SeaWorld--with or without Blackfish. Or, to put this another way, if there was no Blackfish, SeaWorld would still be the big loser in the theme park marketplace in Orlando, because people would still being choosing Potter/Simpsons/Transformers for their vacation dollar (and, of course, Disney World, as their primary reason for visiting in the FIRST PLACE.)

Well that's obvious! Of all the the gripes regarding the upgrade and/or replacement of Maelstrom with a Frozen attraction, the "we love Maelstrom" fan wank is the most absurd of all. If anything, to appreciate the ride, you have to put your irony hat on, and enjoy the camp of Norwegian history interpreted through the eyes of the 1980s and reduced to trolls and oil platforms. As for my original comment regarding Frozen taking over the Norway pavilion, it wasn't meant to by cynical. If they replace the ride, upgrade the shop at the end of the ride to be Frozen-oriented (which, of COURSE they're going to do,) and add a dedicated Frozen meet-and-greet, no doubt by the church and kid's play area ship "wreck," what's left in Norway that's not Frozen-related? The character meet and greet buffet? My argument is that they should just go whole hog and overly the entire pavilion into Arendelle. Like, go for it. Nobody wants to go to Norway but everyone wants to go and have a day in Arendelle. It could very well set the stage for a great transformation of the World Showcase into a series of miniature lands like they crafted in Hong Kong Disneyland. It would align the Imagineers with the wishes of corporate Disney (more IPs, more characters, more synergy profit centers.) And it COULD start Epcot on the way to a vibrant reinvention. Think on this: I personally love the tin toy museum in Japan and the ritual of putting on kimono drag whilst drunk off my ass (or halfway there, depending on if I began in Mexico or Canada.) But, that museum space is always nearly empty or next to empty. It's just me with my beer and goggles. Now, imagine Japan as the foundation for a rework of the pavilion into Big Hero 6, or a pastiche of Miyaki attractions. Sure, I might lose the drag fun but I might gain a lot more to do, and a lot more new things to do at a revitalized park. (I'm still gonna drink, though.) I'm cautiously optimistic. I think using the pavilions as foundations for character and IP-driven rides and experiences isn't a bad thing, especially because Disney never really "got" Epcot in the first place. If the company takes those pavilion pastiches and uses them to transport us to an idealized slice of their character driven pies, as long as I can get my booze on whilst doing it, I'm all for it. What's more, it offers up Epcot an ample opportunity to drop Mystic Pointe into one or two of the empty pads in World Showcase, which is A-OK in my book. (And honestly, from a theme perspective, World Showcase is just fine. It's Future World, despite having more stuff to do, that's a Dead Mall mess.)

Once they take over the ride and create a meet and greet, is there really any Norway left in the pavilion? The restaurant is already a character buffet, and one has to assume that the current giant troll gift shop will be reworked to be Frozen, so what's left, really?

Not that it excuses this bizarre, intractable behavior amongst the hardcore purist...but there IS a difference between taking mythic components of a country's history and culture to create an experience than dropping what essentially is a modern American Movie Musical in Denmark drag into its place. I personally don't care: Epcot is so far gone they might as well take the leap...but Frozen doesn't celebrate or honor the genuine culture of Norway. If anything, Frozen uses the backdrop of a traditional Scandinavian setting to tell a distinctly modern, and distinctly American tale. It even uses one of America's three unique art forms (musical theatre) to do this. To offer a contrast, if Disney dropped a ride based on Spirited Away into the Japan pavilion, it would be a different scenario, as that movie is distinctly Japanese, exploring both modern and traditional concepts and tenets inherent in Japanese culture. That we as an American audience derive meaning and poignance from our outside look into that distinctly Japanese world doesn't change it's fundamental nature as Japanese. Frozen is distinctly American. That a global audience derives meaning and substance from the piece doesn't change it's fundamental nature as anything but American. I think that's the difference. Did that make sense or did I totally just nerd out?

I think the issue regarding Epcot adding Frozen is that there's a desire for the park to live up to the potential it demonstrated on its opening, as a unique, vibrant World's Fair and World Showcase. But...Epcot NEVER lived up to that potential. For whatever reasons (many discussed and debated online, ad nauseum,) Disney the corporate entity never understood Epcot, the potential there, and what they could do with the park. Very quickly, the park became something akin to Tron: a risk-taking high-profile white elephant curio that the company didn't know how to optimize. That lack of certainty and direction revealed itself by the end of the park's first decade, where additions to the trip around the world ceased (and really, that aspect should have been a no-brainer regarding additions,) and the edutainment omnimovers in Future World were already stale, already needing replacement...but, with what? Clearly, Disney didn't have a clue. So we got a couple of thrill rides with muddled themes vaguely centered around science and technology (both of which I like, incidentally,) and a fun, simple, "soar" over land masses, which I guess is something. But, clearly, obviously, Disney and their guests are more comfy with characters, with fantasy. I'm sure every 9 out of 10 exit surveys since 1982 has noted that the public wants more characters, less edutainment, and more rides. So, Disney's been inching them into Epcot for quite a while now. I say go for it. The idealized Epcot is gone. If Epcot as Hong Kong Disneyland with stylized mini-lands based around new and existing IPs breathes new and vibrant life into this admittedly stale park, and moreover, Disney the corporation is more comfortable crafting those experiences, then hooray. The sleeping giant hath awakened. I hope they go all out, take the empty pad next to Mexico, and build Arendelle. Set a precedent and the stage for a slew of these mini-lands throughout the park. It will be like Giant Disney Potpurri Land With Booze. Because seriously. Right now they clearly have no idea what to do with the park, from the INSANE Innoventions paint scheme to the Dead Mall spaces at Wonders of Life and Imagination. Why not just go for it and infuse Disney stuff into that Disney park?